This is it! I hope you enjoy the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who has followed along! One final massive trigger warning...
Anna knew she was dying. She could feel the life leaving her as her blood pooled all around her, the ground unable to soak up anymore. All she could think was that she wanted to see her sister one last time, but she never would. She held an image in her mind of them ice skating together for the first time, laughing. A tear fell from her cheek as she drifted away, Anders doing even more to her that she was unaware of at this point. She could no longer feel any pain.
Suddenly, Anna felt a massive blast of cold as the pressure of him sitting on her was gone. But then hands were on her again and she started to scream once more, panic bringing her back from the brink.
"Anna!" A gentle, familiar voice whispered in her ear. "Anna," the voice sobbed, "you're going to be okay. It's me, it's Elsa, you're safe now."
Anna could only turn her head and cry out, "Elsa?!" And she felt Elsa stroke her blood-matted hair.
"It's me, little sister. It's Elsa. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore. You're safe."
Anna started to sob. It was over, but she still wished she was dead. Elsa knew what had happened, what he had done to her, a royal. She had been forced to watch all of it.
Elsa only shushed her soothingly and told her to lie still. "This will hurt, Anna, but I need to get it out, okay?"
Anna could only nod slightly, bracing herself. The knife was still inside her.
Elsa sobbed as she gently pulled the knife out of her sister's behind, dripping with her blood. Elsa had never used her magic to heal before, but Anna was bleeding so badly it was all she could think to do before her beloved sister bled out in her arms. She put cooling ice into each of Anna's wounds, turning her over and sobbing all over again once she saw the front of her baby sister.
After closing up her wounds as best she could, Elsa just took Anna in her arms, sobbing and holding her. "It's okay, Anna, I won't let anyone hurt you again, I won't let anyone take you." She screamed out for Gale, and once she heard him appear, she passed out, still shielding Anna.
Anna awoke to screams. She frantically looked around to see where they were coming from - where Elsa was - until she realized they were coming from her. Just as she realized that, she saw Honeymaren come into her vision.
"El-Elsa, wh-where, Elsa," she was frantic, trying to grab at Honeymaren.
"It's okay, Queen Anna, Elsa's okay," Honeymaren tried to soothe her.
"No, no, Elsa." Anna wasn't hearing Honeymaren, still caught in the throes of panic.
"Anna," Honeymaren said more firmly, grabbing Anna by the arms, "Elsa is okay, I will go get her for you, but you need to breathe. Just breathe Anna. In through your nose, out through your mouth." Anna started to calm down slightly. "Good, keep breathing. In through your nose, out through your mouth."
She had Anna take a few more breaths, albeit shallow, before asking, "Would you like me to get Elsa or would you like me to stay here?"
"Elsa," was all Anna could gasp out.
"I'll be right back. Don't move, okay? Please, don't move, I'll be right back."
Honeymaren rushed out of the room. Anna tried to keep her breathing under control. She didn't really believe Honeymaren that Elsa was okay. She was still fairly convinced that she had died and that this was her afterlife somehow.
But as soon as she saw her sister's platinum blonde hair appear in the doorway, she burst into tears. Within moments, Elsa was there, gently wrapping her arms around her tortured sister as best as she could, sobbing along with her. "It's okay, Anna, I'm right here, we're safe now, no one will hurt us here, we're safe." She kept whispering things into Anna's ears, trying to keep her grounded. "Let it all out, Anna, let it go."
And Anna did. She sobbed into Elsa, pulling at her hair and her clothes, gripping her so tightly, afraid that if she let up for a moment her sister would be gone from her again. She finally was able to whisper, "How?"
"I don't know. I wish I'd figured it out so much sooner. I just couldn't take him hurting you like that anymore." She felt Anna flinch beneath her, a pang of guilt running through her. "It was like something in me just snapped, and nothing could hold me back from protecting you."
Elsa burst into tears again, "I'm sorry, Anna, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault - "
"No!" Anna cried, "No, no, this is not your fault. This is his fault, this is not your fault."
But Elsa just kept muttering, "My fault, all my fault, I'm sorry, Anna."
Anna finally peeled herself away from Elsa. "Elsa, look at me, look at me." When her sister's cerulean eyes finally met hers she said, "I do not blame you at all for this. This is not your fault, do you hear me? If anything this is my fault - I invited them here, I wasn't able to see him for what he was, and I let this happen, not you."
Elsa looked terrified for a moment, worrying Anna. "This isn't your fault either, Anna, how could you say such a thing?" she whispered.
"Then let's place blame where blame is due, okay? This is his fault, his choices, and we survived, okay? Thanks to you, we survived."
The two women hugged each other again, crying into each other's shoulders once more.
"Ho-how did we get here?" Anna asked.
"Gale," Elsa said. "He found us and alerted the village. He led them there, and they took us here. They sent a messenger to the kingdom to bring Kristoff back."
Anna stiffened at that news. "They-they found us? Ho-how, wha-what, when? And no, I ca-can't see Kristoff, no." Anna couldn't help but stutter; her mind was going in a million directions.
"Hey, okay, breathe, honey, I'm sorry, that was a lot, I'm sorry, just breathe with me." Elsa was able to keep her breathing steady and let her heart rate and thoughts calm down ever so slightly. "Yes, Yelena was the one who found us, and she wouldn't let anyone except herself and Honeymaren near you due to your injuries." Anna still looked down, ashamed. "Hey," Elsa countered, pulling her face up to look at hers, "you have nothing to be ashamed of, okay? You survived, and that is what matters, nothing else. And if you don't want Kristoff here right now, I know he'll understand. He wants to give you whatever you need, even if that's space, okay?"
That helped calm Anna down. After a few moments of contemplation, she asked, "Elsa - how are you?"
Elsa just smiled, her eyes glistening with tears. "I'm okay. Now that you're going to be okay, I'm okay."
"No, don't do that with me. How are you really?"
"Really, I'm okay for now. I'm sure in a day or two it will all catch up to me, but right now I just need to know that you're going to make it. You've been out for several days. I wasn't sure you were going to make it there for a while." Elsa's voice broke several times, but her smile was genuine, and Anna accepted that answer.
"Wha-what did he want you to do, did he tell you?"
Elsa nodded solemnly. She took in a big breath before telling her, "He wanted me to take over the world for him, essentially."
"And he threatened me if you didn't?"
"Yes," Elsa said softly, barely above a whisper. "What he - what he did to you at the end was to convince me to say yes." Elsa looked away, and Anna knew there was more to the story there.
"Elsa, you know that wasn't really a choice right? That's an impossible choice. I hope you told him to fuck off."
"Anna!" Elsa looked stunned at her sister's language, but when she saw Anna grinning, she chuckled and lightened back up.
"What are you not telling me, Els?" Anna probed.
"Nothing," Elsa said too quickly. Anna merely gave her a look before she relented. She whispered, "I was going to tell him no."
"Good," Anna replied.
Elsa looked up at her sharply, not expecting that so immediately from her sister.
"Good," Anna repeated. "I would have been devastated if you had become a monster just to save me."
Elsa looked down again, making Anna feel like she'd said the wrong thing. "Elsa, I wouldn't have wanted you to do that for me. I would have gladly accepted him killing me to save everyone else. No matter how brutal it was."
"I know," Elsa said. "I knew even in the moment you wouldn't want that. I just, I know he deserved it but I can't believe I - "
Anna realized what had Elsa so upset. "Elsa, did you kill him?"
She immediately stood up, wrapping her arms around herself protectively.
"Elsa, it's okay if you did, he absolutely deserved it. That doesn't make you a monster."
All Elsa could do was shake her head vigorously.
"Elsa, talk to me," Anna pleaded, not liking to see her sister so upset. "Elsa," she said again, softer, holding her hand out to her sister.
"I wanted to," Elsa whispered.
"Elsa, come here," Anna said, nodding at her outstretched hand. Elsa reluctantly took it. "Elsa, of course you wanted to. He was hurting me. I wanted anyone or anything to kill him. That does not make you a monster. That makes you my sister, and I love you for that."
Elsa looked confused again.
"I love you," Anna repeated emphatically. "I love you for killing him so he couldn't hurt us anymore."
"I love you, too, Anna," Elsa replied, hugging Anna again.
The women knew they'd have a long road of recovery ahead of them. But they had each other. And that would be enough.
And just like that, it's over, it's done. Thank you to those of you who made it to the end. I hope you've enjoyed it!